Another event at the WSOP, another gold bracelet up for grabs! It's Day 1 of Event #13: Big Blind Antes $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em.
This is a three-day event and a new event on the 2018 WSOP calendar. The tournament will implement a Big Blind Ante structure, which means that the ante will come from the big blind, and will speed up the game.
Day 1 starts at 11 a.m. local time. Players will begin with 7,500 in chips and will play 10 one-hour levels. There will be a 20-minute break every two levels and a 75-minute dinner break after Level 6. Late registration will close after the first eight levels, which is around 9:10 p.m. local time.
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PokerNews will be covering this event from start to finish, so make sure to stay tuned for all the upcoming action.
The board read and Niall Farrell bet 3,000 from the big blind into a pot around 2,700. His opponent called from the button and Farrell then tabled for the straight. His opponent mucked and Farrell is now over double his initial starting stack.
Jose "Nacho" Barbero was faced by a three-bet of 4,200 by his opponent and then moved all in for 7,750. His opponent made the call and both players flipped over their hands.
Jose "Nacho" Barbero:
Opponent:
The board ran out and Barbero's kings held on for the double.
The board read and Jeff Gross checked to Vincent Huang who then bet 4,000. Gross thought for a few moments before literally kissing his chips goodbye and making the call. Huang tabled for a full house and Gross then mucked his hand.
The board read and action checked to Kristen Bicknell who bet 1,600 from the button. An opponent in the cutoff made the call and the turn fell the .
Both players checked and the river came the . Action checked to Bicknell who quickly put in 9,000 and her opponent thought for a moment before throwing his cards in the muck.
The button opened to 1,600 and Stephen Song called from the small blind. The big blind called as well and the flop came down . Action checked to the button who bet 3,400 and Song then raised to 11,500. The button opponent moved all in and Song quickly called, players then revealed their hands.
Stephen Song:
Opponent:
The on the turn did not change anything and Song would need to connect. The river fell the and Song then completed his flush draw. Song has now taken the chip lead on the last blind level of the day.
There were a total of 1,306 runners in Day 1 of Event #13: Big Blind Antes $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em, which played out at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. A total of 224 found a bag and moved onto Day 2, which will begin at 12pm on Wednesday, 6 June. The heaviest stack moving on to the second day belongs to Stephen Song, who bagged an impressive 193,100.
It was not until the last two levels of play that Song started to build up his chip count and he did not slow down after this point, ending the day with a healthy chip lead. His biggest cash coming into this event was in January of this year during the $3,500 No-Limit Hold'em WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship for $138,254. Song, who is in the hunt for his first bracelet, will be looking to run deep and surpass that personal best by taking down the $315,346 top prize.
Third in chips is non-other than 2016 WSOP Main Event Champion Qui Nguyen, who boasts over $8,000,000 in live tournament cashes. Nguyen will be looking to keep running up his stack on Day 2 and take down the second WSOP bracelet event of his career on Day 3.
Three-time bracelet winner Dutch Boyd is also up there in the counts with a stack of 151,700, with Russia's Vojtech Ruzicka (128,800) rounding out the top five.
Some of the more notable players to make Day 2 include Romain Lewis (83,300), bracelet winner Ankush Mandavia (73,600), Chance Kornuth (62,800), Jeff Gross (60,300), Alexander Lynskey (55,000), four-time bracelet winner Jeff Madsen (51,600), and six-time bracelet winner Chris Ferguson (15,500).
Some of the well-known pros that did not make it through included Georgios Sotiropoulos, Kristen Bicknell, Phil Hellmuth, Kenny Hallaert, Maria Ho, Pfizer Jordan, Chris Moorman, Ari Engel, Mohsin Charania, Joey Weissman, and Tom Hall.
The remaining runners will be returning at 12pm on Wednesday, 6 June for Day 2, and it will be a race to the money with the top 196 getting paid. The returning survivors will play a total of ten 60-minute levels before moving on to Day 3. Blinds will start at 500/1,000 with a 1,000 big blind ante and there will be a 15-minute break every two levels, with a 60-minute dinner break coming at the end of level six.
Follow the PokerNews team for live updates on the two remaining days of this event and every other event this summer during the WSOP.